I've joined a new blogger group - National Equality March Bloggers, a/k/a NEM Bloggers - that has as a goal disseminating timely and accurate information concerning the October 10-11, 2009, event scheduled in Washington, D.C. Among the group are some of my compatriots from last December's LGBT Blogger Summit as well as media people fro NEM and the organizer of last weekends National Kiss In. After a rocky start and whining by self-anointed leaders of LGBT rights organizations, support for Cleve Jones' call for a march is growing. Organizations United Together (OUT), a federation of LGBT and allied organizations dedicated to achieving equality and justice for LGBT Floridians has just announced that it endorses the March. *
And Pam's House Blend reports on other groups signing on to the event (which the boyfriend and I will be attending):
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Major national LGBT organizations including the Gay Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) and the Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches (MCC) have endorsed the march as have local and state grassroots organizations like Join the Impact Chicago, One Struggle One Fight and Freedom Democrats of Miami-Dade.
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October 11 has been observed as “National Coming Out Day” since 1988. As well, this year commemorates the 30th anniversary of the first March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights. “We’re marching this October to demand action from the Federal government to protect our rights in all fifty states,” said Kip Williams, one of the organizers. “Real equality can only come from the President, the Congress and the Supreme Court.”
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“We’re tired of compromises and delays.”...Lt. Dan Choi, also a member of the march steering committee, is working to ensure a strong presence by LGBT and straight veterans at the march. “The majority of Americans reject discrimination in the armed forces, it’s time for Congress and the Administration to move on this and all issues of equality for LGBT Americans.”
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Some have asked what will the March accomplish or debated if it would undermine local efforts. Personally, I believe a national march could well help activist in every state to feel empowered and make them realize that this is a national struggle, not one just limited to certain states or localities. Lisa Neff at 365gay.com has these reflections:
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On Oct. 11, our community again will march on Washington to demand equal rights. Participants in National Equality March will celebrate the strides over three decades, the leaps in 30 years. We certainly are not marching from the same place we were in 1979.
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But marchers also will make known that their governments treat them as second-class citizens and that they are challenging unconstitutional laws and questioning unacceptable policies for our military, our workplaces, our schools and our families. You might hear arguments that the march being planned will divert resources from the fights in the states.
But marchers also will make known that their governments treat them as second-class citizens and that they are challenging unconstitutional laws and questioning unacceptable policies for our military, our workplaces, our schools and our families. You might hear arguments that the march being planned will divert resources from the fights in the states.
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The argument of limited resources is deeply flawed. We, as a movement and community, have not begun to tap our full potential. How can anyone seriously claim that if a person goes to Washington for a weekend in October that he or she is spent out and has nothing left to give a state gay rights organization or a local GLBT center? I would argue the opposite. Marches energize some, radicalize others and connect many to people and organizations and campaigns and causes.
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And, on Oct. 12, marchers will return to their hometowns, their home states, the districts and territories, powered to campaign for the demand made on Oct. 11. The march will be the forum for issuing the demand for equal rights. The demand will not be won that day, but in the days that follow, with our community nourished for the fight.
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The other thing the March will hopefully do is put faces on the unnamed "gays" that our opponents denigrate daily with a broad brush. Viewers of television coverage or print stories will hopefully be pushed along the way to realizing that we are people too and not some nameless "other." Will the Christo-fascists hysterically bloviate about the March? Most assuredly, but there will be others who watch and learn. I still remember as an eleven year old watching Martin Luther King's march on Washington in 1963 and his now immortal "I Have a Dream" speech. It will make a difference.
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